Thursday, 31 August 2017

With the annual Hajj pilgrimage having officially started, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced the arrival of 2 million pilgrims to the Holy City of Makkah.

Saudi Arabia shoulders the responsibility of organising and conducting the pilgrimage, under the supervision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, as well as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Attending the Annual World Tourism Conference in Rwanda, Facebook and Instagram representatives were in Kigali this week (28-31 August) to discuss and explore ways in which social media can be used to effectively drive tourism growth across the Continent. Showcasing how both platforms can be used as a tool to creatively help change the narrative of Africa as a tourist destination, the team also took part in a live panel discussion exploring the ‘Evolution of Online Travel and Lifestyle Tourism: Leveraging Africa’s Diversity’.

The event, developed by the Rwanda Development Board, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and the Africa Travel Association (ATA), saw government officials, tourism ministers, tourism boards and business professionals from across the world and the Continent descend onto the capital.

BUA Group, one of Nigeria’s largest conglomerate, on Tuesday unveiled its 1billion dollars Obu Cement factory in Okpella, Edo state at a commissioning ceremony performed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

During the ceremony, the Vice President also performed the groundbreaking of a 3million metric tonnes second line within the same complex. In attendance at the event were the Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki; the Governor of Kano state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; Immediate Past Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah; Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh; the Emir of Kano, HRH Lamido Sanusi II; the Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, CEOs and Captains of Industry amongst other dignitaries

YouTube has changed the identity it has had for the last 12 years, which has been a pair of anachronisms wrapped inside each other. “We have the word tube in a tube,” says Christopher Bettig, the head of YouTube’s art department. “This is weird. No one know what this is.”

So the company decided to carry out its getting its biggest aesthetic makeover ever. The YouTube logo is being refreshed, shifting the emphasis away from the word “Tube” and onto the familiar play button which has already become an iconic shorthand for the company. YouTube is also getting a new typeface, color scheme, and a bunch of major changes to the look, feel, and functionality of its desktop and mobile app.

For the past decade, Guido De Wilde – Chief Operating Officer Middle East for Marriott International, and founder of Road to Awareness – has dedicated days and months of his life to cycling in Europe in the name of charity and as part of the Road to Awareness campaign, launched in 2008.

It all began 10 years ago when a handful of senior associates at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, decided to take on a three-day cycling challenge in the French Alps in aid of UNICEF: “We wanted to give back to the community – it’s part of our nature as hoteliers, being the kind of people who like to look after and support others. The generosity, spirit, and commitment demonstrated by our associates across the region who take part each year always inspires me and makes me so proud,” Guido said.

West Africa’s leading provider of connectivity and data center solutions, MainOne has reiterated the importance of Internet traffic domiciliation as a key requirement for growing the internet ecosystem in Africa. Speaking at the just concluded African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF), MainOne’s Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke challenged the continent’s leading Internet players to exchange traffic on the continent, noting that this would significantly lower costs and improve performance.

During her keynote address titled “Vision 80/20 by 2020” which approached the goal set by AfPIF to route 80% of Africa’s Internet traffic on the continent by the year 2020, Ms. Opeke examined the internet landscape in Africa and rued the current ecosystem of routing over 80% of the Internet traffic from Nigeria abroad, incurring expensive transit costs and increasing service latency.

Remarks by His Excellency, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN at the Commissioning of the Edo State Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited NPK Fertilizer Plant, Auchi, Edo State Tuesday, August 29, 2017:

[PROTOCOLS]

First let me say how pleased I am to be here in Auchi, I was here in camp as a Youth Corper in 1979. I lived here among the warm and friendly people of Auchi for 6 weeks.

TPT International Limited has explained its involvement in the career workshop, organised by Global Interns, to upgrade participants’ skills to meet the workplace expectation of today and the future.

The workshop, which attracted over 100 participants from secondary schools and tertiary institutions, was held on Tuesday in Lagos and co-sponsored by TPT International Limited, a foremost award-winning public relations firm.

On Sunday, 27th August, 2017 the first live show of Airtel The Voice Nigeria was aired. The leading telecommunications service provider brought talents from the season one, celebrities in showbiz, corporate personalities and regulators together for an exclusive live screening of the show at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island.

Worldwide Partners is a global collective of marketing services providers who share an independent spirit and entrepreneurial drive to build commerce through connectivity, creativity and collaboration.With this strategic move, Media Seal and Bytesize would be leveraging on huge global resources derived from the collective competencies and capabilities of 65+ agencies in over 45 countries.

Goldberg, a brand from the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc, is set to unveil an empowerment scheme tagged ‘Isedowo’ in the Southwestern part of Nigeria on Thursday, August 31, 2017.

Isedowo, which is designed to equip young Yoruba men and women with the support to grow their businesses, will be unveiled at the palace of the revered monarch, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II.

Tuesday, 29 August 2017

Following the successful session of the battle rounds, Airtel Nigeria, sponsor of The Voice Nigeria in partnership with DStv hosted a star-studded executive screening of the first Live Show in Lagos on Sunday, 27th of August, 2017.

The live screening which was anchored by Ozzy Agu, had in attendance season one finalists: Patrick, Cornel, Viveeyan, Chike and Bassey who performed the popular "Till the World Hears Your Voice"; bringing back the memory of the first edition.

The nationwide search and call for entries for the 10th edition of the Indomie Independence Day Award (IIDA); has finally come to an end, with a total of 195 inspiring and heroic stories gathered from different States and locations across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

A breakdown of the stories gathered revealed that 120 were gotten from the field search exercise while the remaining 75 stories came from online portals. A further analysis shows that, of the 120 field stories, South East topped the chart with 29 stories of children who have displayed heroic attributes even in the face of immense danger. South-South stories followed with 23 inspiring stories, 19 stories came from both the North-West and North-East respectively while 17 dauntless stories came from the South-West. Another 13 valiant stories were gathered from the North Central geo-political zone of Nigeria.

Buy N4, 000 worth of Nobel Carpets or More & Win Fantastic Prizes during this Sallah

Are you resident in Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Igbo, Ikenne and environs? Or will you be around these locations this Sallah period for the Ojude-Oba Festival? Nobel Carpets and Rugs, Nigeria’s leading manufacturer of interior designs and floor coverings is offering the Nigerian consumers especially those within Ijebu Ode axis a bumper sales price reduction this Sallah season by providing them the most affordable and quality carpets and flooring solutions.

The sales promotion which comes with various complimentary gift items will run from the 28th of August to the 30th of September is aimed at celebrating the Sallah Season with Muslim faithful and also to give Nobel Carpets customers something to cheer about this festive period.

Contrary to the report released by Sunday Punch Newspaper and other online news platforms, the management of Heritage Bank has refuted the allegation that the Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo and other staff members were involved in N13billion fraud from funds belonging to the Oyo State government.

The bank in the early hours of today in a statement sent to BrandArena stated that, the management of the bank "finds it (the reports) distasteful, unethical and unprofessional of these media houses to tarnish the image of Mr Ifie Sekibo, MD/CEO and the bank".

Nigerian born NBA player, Daniel Ochefu of the Washington Wizards will arrive Lagos this week to play for the first time in his home Country at the Senior National team, D’Tigers. The 23 year old started his career at Westtown School before finishing his studies at Downing Town East high school where he averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds per game as a junior. He went further to play college basketball for Villanova and led his team to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship, no wonder he was signed to a three year deal with the Wizards.

Ochefu and his team mates are ready to defend their AfroBasket title as defending Champions come September 8th-16th in Tunisia and Senegal.

In a continent of over billion people, the ICT market in Africa, excluding South Africa is valued at only USD 10 billion. South Africa’s ICT market is valued at over USD 22 billion. The country alone accounts for about 68 percent of the entire market in Africa which makes the continent’s figures of USD 32 billion appear skewed. This was revealed by Ramesh Awtaney, Founder and Chairman of iSON Group during his presentation on ‘’Bringing Intellectual Property to Work: Create Onshore Model, Target Offshore Opportunities’’, at the 2017 London Business School’s Africa Business Summit.

Ramesh examined the opportunities in Africa’s ICT sector in relation to India’s industry where ICT is playing a massive role. According to him, ICT is the propelling factor in India’s 6.5 percent average annual GDP growth for past two decades and at present commands a 10% share of the country’s GDP. Also 38 percent of India’s export are ICT services. In the USD 2 trillion economy, the sector rakes USD 100 billion of exports. The best case of ICT export in Africa is that of Kenya where contribution is 0.06 percent of GDP.

Friday, 25 August 2017

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed the registeration of 2.3 million persons in its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the first and second quarter of 2017.

The Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu who made the disclosure when he paid a courtesy visit to the office Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) in Abuja said, “We have registered 1.8 million Nigerians in the first quarter of the CVR exercise and registered about half a million in the second quarter of the CVR.”

As part of efforts to jump-start its diversification into the health care business, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has requested a deeper collaboration with India in the area of expertise and state-of-the-art medical equipment to revitalize its 52 clinics across the country.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who made this proposition on Thursday in Abuja when he received the Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency Nagabushana Reddy, said such cooperation would reduce the trend of medical tourism from Nigeria to various countries.

Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has restated its commitment to deepen the practice of the journalism profession by creating platforms and opportunities that will empower journalists to become more adept and proficient at their jobs.

Speaking at the flag-off of the prestigious Airtel Journalism Clinic, a multi-media training designed to bridge the gap between traditional and digital journalism practice, Vice President/Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, said Airtel will continue to support interventions that will help journalists drive positive societal change through balanced and robust reporting.

Samsung has just unleashed the Galaxy Note 8, its newest flagship smartphone. Just for months after the launch of Galaxy S8 and S8+, the new Note Series device was announced on Wednesday, August 23 in New York. So far, the two S devices are of the best handsets of the year, selling in droves and Note 8 promises to do better for phablet fans.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 follows a similar design path to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ but with a couple of tweaks. We have have decided to unpack the difference we have so far observed between the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and the new Note 8.

eBay Inc., a global commerce leader, and Mall for Africa, Africa’s award-winning global e-commerce and m-commerce platform, announced a strategic partnership today that further boosts the sale of handmade African products into the United States. The partnership expands upon an existing relationship between the two companies, which allows Africans the ability to purchase items from eBayforAfrica.com or directly through the Mall for Africa app.

Mall for Africa and eBay will now provide Africans starting with Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Rwanda a new platform to sell their one-of-a-kind artisan products into the U.S. The inventory will be surfaced on the Mall for Africa store on eBay.com, allowing sellers to expand their businesses and increase brand awareness. To start, product categories will include fashion, art & collectibles, jewelry, and clothing. Expansion into other categories and additional African countries will occur in the upcoming months.

The Federal Government has directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to sanction any radio or television station that broadcasts hate speech, as part of efforts to stem the growing tide of hate speech in the country.

R-L: Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa ad Abubakar, and the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mallam Ishaq Modibbo, at the 3rd Annual Lecture Series of the NBC in Abuja on Thursday August 24, 2017.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued the directive in Abuja on Thursday at the 3rd Annual Lecture Series of the NBC, which also coincides with the 25th Anniversary of the Commission.

The Facebook Challenge, an official Loerie Award in the Student category, was won this year by three students from AAA School of Advertising in Cape Town. The award, which aims to celebrate the achievements of future creatives as they redefine creativity in the mobile era, was created in partnership with Facebook and The Nelson Mandela Foundation.

With students from across Africa and The Middle East briefed to address gender inequality awareness through the development of a mobile video campaign, the inaugural Facebook Challenge Loerie was won by Peni Buckton, Claudia Bester (both 3rd year students studying BA in Creative Brand Communication) and Lunje Jwambe (2nd year student studying Copy Writing diploma).

…Commend Governor Ambode’s commitment to achieve healthy, smart city
Monarchs and residents in Local Governments (LGs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) under the Epe division of Lagos State have pledged support to Cleaner Lagos Initiative, a pragmatic approach by the Lagos State Government to management waste in the state.

On Tuesday, 22 August, 2017, the stakeholders who attended a forum organized by the State Government for people in LGs/LCDAs under Epe division expressed optimism that the Cleaner Lagos Initiative will deliver healthy, clean and safe environment for everyone.

Students from various senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions have commended Global Interns for broadening their horizon on career planning and internship opportunities at the Career Connect Series held on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 in Lagos.

The workshop, which took place at The Incubator in Victoria Island, had in attendance seasoned facilitators including Greg Malize, Founder and Executive Director of ImpactGen; Oluwaseyi Adeoye, Chief Executive Officer of Pierrine Consulting; Caesar Keluro, Principal Partner of Ideasvibe Media; and Olufunmilayo Modupe, Principal Adviser of Global Interns Company who provided educative career planning tips on various topics that enriched the students’ knowledge in career decisions.

This week, the automobile industry witnessed a milestone as Nigeria’s first coach brand BUSCAR was unveiled to the public with a grand ceremony held at the serene Zen Garden, GRA Ikeja. BUSCAR, an innovation which integrates the bus technology with the luxury and convenience of a car is a full blown African coach brand with a Nigerian origin.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/CEO of the BUSCAR Company Mr. Friday Yange said that he commenced the BUSCAR journey in 2005 as a freelancer for some notable dealers for Chinese bus brands. “Mid 2008 we secured and became a distributor for BONLUCK in Nigeria. In 2015 the idea of BUSCAR brand was conceived and birthed in line with the Nigeria Government automotive and local content policy. Against the background of increasing globalization of bus builders, there are a number of emerging new faces in Nigeria and Africa” and BUSCAR is now one of them.

In a statement made available to the media by Ayo Oluwatosin, Group Managing Director of Rosabel, the decision to rebrand the company is part of a larger strategic goal aimed at repositioning the business for sustained market leadership in the unfolding new global play.

Jumia has announced its inaugural essay writing competition for all Nigerian students with the chance to win up to 1 million naira in scholarship.

The competition is a part of Jumia’s kick-off of the 2017 Back to School season sales.

The nationwide competition will bring together students from all over in an intellectual bout that challenges them to develop smart solutions and unleash hidden potentials that will address tangible problems faced in the country.

Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) is celebrating the third annual Emirati Women’s Day with a series of events to highlight this year’s theme, Women are partners in giving, in line with the UAE’s 2017 Year of Giving initiative.

Women comprise 36 per cent of EAG’s nearly 26,000-strong workforce, working alongside men in what are traditionally regarded as male professions such as engineering, the flight deck and cargo. Emirati women are also well represented in these functions, with several of them sharing their experiences at panel discussions held at the Etihad Airways Headquarters today.

The managing director of Jumia Travel Nigeria, Omolara Adagunodo has said creating processes that will protect a business and its owners is one of the crucial ingredients necessary for the survival of a start-up.

Adagunodo made this remark during a fireside chat on the opportunities and challenges of running an e-commerce business in Nigeria at the just concluded CEO Apprentice Africa programme organised by the digital arm of Business Day tabloid.

As part of the Bacardi ‘Spirit for Life, Caring Together’ annual Corporate Responsibility Month community service volunteer program, Bacardi partnered with Tulsi Chanrai Foundation (TCF) in Nigeria on its Mission for Water Project to provide safe drinking water to villagers in Kebbi state. Through the rehabilitation of 50 hand pumps, the initiative is benefitting more than 30,000 villagers.

In Nigeria, about 70 million people lack access to safe drinking water, with more than 110 million lacking access to adequate sanitation. Every year, an estimated 124,000 children under the age of five die because of diarrhea, as a result of unsafe water and lack of proper sanitation.

Emirates will be operating extra flights to Jeddah to help facilitate travel for thousands of pilgrims this year heading to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Hajj.

Emirates will be operating 45 additional flights to Jeddah and 12 additional flights to Medina from 17 August until 11 September to help serve the 2 million pilgrims expected to travel to the Holy City of Mecca during Hajj this year. These services will run in parallel with Emirates’ regularly scheduled services to Jeddah. The airline will also be operating its A380 to Medina which will also support the increased demand during this period.

Nigerian Tulip International College (NTIC) has secured two semi-final slots for Kaduna State in the on-going 2017 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz Show, sponsored by Cowbell, the flagship brand of Promasidor Nigeria Limited. This means the Northern part of Nigeria will be represented in the semi-finals for both the Junior and Senior categories in this year’s competition.

In the Group C preliminary contest last weekend, Olayinka Abdulwakil of NTIC, Kaduna and Deborah Oyekunle of Deeper Life High School, Ibadan, Oyo State emerged as semi-finalists in the Junior category.

Youtap, a global provider of contactless mobile payments and financial services software, has launched a QR code solution and smartphone apps for mobile money services in Africa and Asia.

Youtap’s solution enables customer-initiated or merchant-initiated QR code payments for smartphones and smart point-of-sale devices. The solution conforms to the BharatQR industry standard developed by Bharat, Mastercard and Visa. Youtap’s apps can be white-labelled and branded with the logo and colours of the mobile money service.

In a bid to continue boosting entrepreneurship development in order to curb the high level of unemployment in the country, Heritage Bank Plc will once again be the headline sponsor for the fourth season of “The Next Titans,” a Nigerian entrepreneurial Reality TV Show.

The move by the bank is a consistent commitment to build the next generation of sustainable Nigerian businesses; young and budding entrepreneurs who will end up becoming ‘titans’ in their own disciplines whether in Technology, Inventions, Media, Real Estate, Fashion, Agriculture, or Productions, and so on.